THIS WEEKEND The
slowest box office session of the year was ruled by action star Vin Diesel
whose latest testosterone sequel Riddick topped
the charts opening to $19M according to final
studio figures. Universal averaged a decent $6,125 from 3,107
locations and generated a debut that was not very muscular, but not lousy
either. Considering the weak marketplace and the glut of action titles
over the past couple of months, it was a respectable launch.

The weekend after the Labor Day holiday is generally one of the weakest
of the entire year as kids go back to school, a new football season begins
giving extra competition to male-skewing films, and studios generally avoid
opening anything big. The Top 20 slumped to $76M this weekend - the worst
tally of 2013.

The R-rated Riddick was the third
film of the sci-fi franchise and followed the last installment after a
prolonged nine-year gap. The Chronicles of Riddick
opened to $24.3M in June 2004 which was considered underwhelming at the
time and ended off with $57.6M. As expected, the new Riddick
played to a heavily male crowd as studio research showed that
guys were 59% of the audience. 53% were age 30 or older and 69% were non-white.

Reviews were mixed but fairly good for a Vin Diesel-led sci-fi threequel.
Audiences were only somewhat pleased with their ticket purchase as the
CinemaScore grade was a lackluster B. The domestic gross should, however,
end up north of its production cost of $38M and international potential
is solid given the popularity of the star and the genre.

Following a three-week run at number one, the hit White House drama
The Butler settled for second place
with $8.4M, off 44%. With a solid $91.4M after its fourth frame, The Weinstein
Co. release should reach nine-digit territory next weekend.

Latino audiences powered the Spanish-language family comedy Instructions
Not Included into third place with $8.1M in its second weekend
rising two spots from last weekend's impressive debut. Lionsgate doubled
the theater count going from 348 to 717 locations and saw the weekend gross
inch up 4% while the average was a sturdy $11,366. With $20.4M in ten days,
the PG-13 film should find its way to double that amount by the end of
the run.

Off only 40% in its fifth weekend, the sleeper hit comedy We're
the Millers grabbed another $7.7M pushing the cume up to a remarkable
$123.6M. A final near the $145M area is likely. Disney's animated entry
Planes followed in fifth with $4.1M,
down 47%, for a $79.1M total.

Teen girls abandoned the boy band doc One Direction:
This Is Us which suffered the third worst sophomore drop of
2013. The Sony release grossed $4M tumbling by a massive 74%. The only
films this year to collapse worse in the second weekend were the fright
films Texas Chainsaw 3D and The
Purge which both fell by 76% after opening at number one. One
Direction has banked $23.9M to date and should end up with about
$30M. Global total to date is $50M.

Sony stablemate Elysium declined
by 51% to $3.1M for $85.1M thus far with the worldwide take now up to $212M.
Taking eighth place was the effects-driven actioner Percy
Jackson: Sea of Monsters with $2.4M, down 46%, and $59.8M overall
for Fox.

Sony Classics followed as Woody Allen's leggy indie hit Blue
Jasmine continued to score with upscale adults collecting $2.3M,
down 41%. The pic is now the veteran filmmaker's second highest-grossing
film from the past quarter-century behind Midnight
in Paris. A final in the $30-35M range is possible which is
terrific for a low-budget specialty pic. Rounding out the end of the top
ten list was the British comedy The World's End
with $2.3M, off 54%, and a cume of $21.8M for Focus.

Sony expanded its doomsday comedy hit This
Is The End putting it back into wide release in 2,161 locations
and collected an extra $1.9M. That boosted the cume to within striking
distance of the century mark at $98.8M. End
earned strong reviews and enjoyed good legs, but opened head-to-head against
Man of Steel in June so some of the
target audience of young men may have missed it the first time around.
Another week would put it over the $100M mark - a milestone that is more
just for film industry bragging rights these days.

With the summer movie season now over, here are the top ten domestic
blockbusters and their current grosses: Iron Man
3 ($409M), Despicable Me 2
($357.6M), Man of Steel ($290.9M),
Monsters University ($265M), Fast
& Furious 6 ($238.7M), Star Trek
Into Darkness ($228.8M), World War
Z ($201.4M), The Heat ($157.9M),
The Great Gatsby ($144.8M), and The
Conjuring ($135.2M).

The top ten films grossed an estimated $61.7M which was up 32% from
last year when The Possession stayed
at number one with $9.3M; and up 2% from 2011 when Contagion
opened in the top spot with $22.4M.

Compared to projections, Riddick
opened on target with my $19M forecast.

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com
on Twitter.

Be sure to check back on Thursday
for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Insidious
Chapter 2 and The Family
both open.

#

Title

Sep 6 - 8

Aug 30 - Sep
1

% Chg.

Theaters

Weeks

AVG

Cumulative

Distributor

1

Riddick

$ 19,030,375

3,107

1

$ 6,125

$ 19,030,375

Universal

2

The Butler

8,401,729

14,878,286

-43.5

3,330

4

2,523

91,403,106

Weinstein
Co.

3

Instructions
Not Included

8,149,289

7,846,426

3.9

717

2

11,366

20,360,893

Lionsgate

4

We're the Millers

7,695,027

12,715,243

-39.5

3,445

5

2,234

123,613,931

Warner
Bros.

5

Planes

4,120,811

7,751,705

-46.8

3,033

5

1,359

79,124,995

Disney

6

One Direction:
This Is Us

4,046,455

15,815,497

-74.4

2,735

2

1,480

23,936,965

Sony

7

Elysium

3,141,332

6,438,868

-51.2

2,241

5

1,402

85,118,599

Sony

8

Percy Jackson:
Sea of Monsters

2,425,539

4,481,327

-45.9

2,045

5

1,186

59,773,305

Fox

9

Blue Jasmine

2,347,694

3,986,568

-41.1

1,069

7

2,196

25,108,580

Sony
Classics

10

The World's
End

2,314,494

5,026,312

-54.0

1,520

3

1,523

21,784,111

Focus

11

The Mortal
Instruments: City of Bones

2,207,000

5,475,416

-59.7

2,519

3

876

27,851,204

Sony

12

Getaway

2,191,484

4,503,892

-51.3

2,135

2

1,026

8,680,163

Warner
Bros.

13

This Is The
End

1,901,825

102,642

2,161

13

880

98,847,912

Sony

14

You're Next

1,584,541

4,091,822

-61.3

1,902

3

833

16,907,032

Lionsgate

15

Despicable
Me 2

1,459,505

2,760,460

-47.1

1,050

10

1,390

357,558,315

Universal

16

2 Guns

1,409,635

2,638,570

-46.6

1,165

6

1,210

72,077,420

Universal

17

The Grandmaster

1,030,576

2,477,792

-58.4

804

3

1,282

4,959,006

Weinstein
Co.

18

Closed Circuit

938,153

2,464,931

-61.9

870

2

1,078

5,023,667

Focus

19

The Smurfs
2

902,227

1,948,376

-53.7

949

6

951

68,177,426

Sony

20

The Wolverine

748,594

1,713,346

-56.3

698

7

1,072

129,411,133

Fox

Top
5

$ 51,443,686

$ 59,007,157

-12.8

Top
10

61,672,745

84,932,972

-27.4

Top
20

76,046,285

110,532,001

-31.2

Top
20 vs. 2012

76,046,285

60,379,645

25.9

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.